Is the TPP dead? Congress ensures that it will NOT be passed under Trump

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 by: Daniel Barker
Tags: TPP, Trump, trade deals

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(NaturalNews) Republicans and Democrats can agree on one thing: that the election of Donald Trump represents the final nail in the coffin for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The controversial trade agreement was already on "life support" in the months leading up to the November election, with opposition mounting on both sides of the aisle and becoming stronger among Republicans as Trump's election campaign gained momentum.

From the Washington Post:

"The deal never had much of a following among congressional Democrats to begin with. Only 28 of 188 House Democrats and 13 of 44 Senate Democrats supported granting Obama the authority to negotiate and finalize a deal last year. And Trump's rise has decimated support for free trade among Republicans. A former U.S. trade representative, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, said he would oppose the TPP as he campaigned for reelection this year."

Sen. Schumer tells AFL-CIO that the deal is dead

On November 10, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is likely to be the new Senate minority leader, told the AFL-CIO Executive Council that the deal would not be ratified by Congress, and reports suggest that the Obama administration has given up on pursuing the issue during the last two months before Trump's inauguration. A Schumer aide confirmed that the senator relayed statements made to him by Republican leaders regarding the demise of the proposed deal.

As President-elect Trump himself said in June:

"There is no way to fix the TPP. We need bilateral trade deals. We do not need to enter into another massive international agreement that ties us up and binds us down."

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell was quoted as saying there is no chance the deal would be passed during the remainder of Obama's term, and that it will be up to Trump to decide whether any new trade deals would be pursued after the inauguration. "I think the President-elect made it pretty clear he was not in favor of the current agreement," he said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan has also confirmed the the deal does not have enough GOP support to get it passed in the House.

Trump's win has effectively dashed any hopes on Obama's part to pass the deal he believed was crucial for strengthening U.S. influence in Asia and the Pacific, while stimulating the American economy.

The demise of the TPP is good news for America

But there has been strong opposition to the deal from the beginning. Critics see the TTP as a threat on many levels – if passed, the deal would have been the largest trade agreement in history, and one that would have affected 790 million people.

The TPP would have also accounted for 40 percent of the world's economy, but its provisions were hammered out in secret. What is clear, however, is that it would have favored the interests of big corporations and not those of the people.

For example, Big Pharma would have benefited from patent protection provisions that enabled them to delay the introduction of cheaper generic versions of their products.

That's just one aspect of a deal that was created by and for corporate and Wall Street interests.

The TPP does not favor the American people – it would give multinational corporations the power to challenge regulations that cut into their profit margins. This could affect the health and safety of ordinary citizens – as well as the environment – and it could lead to the removal of protections against predatory banking practices and other threats to our financial well-being.

The TPP was a rotten deal from the start and its demise represents only one of the victories for the American people brought about by the election of Donald Trump as our next president.

Sources:

WashingtonPost.com

CNN.com

TruthDig.com